Saturday, 15 August 2015

SATURDAY DIGEST: World's greatest unsolved mysteries (Day 6)

Series
of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in Southern Peru, The
high arid

Pleateau stretches more than 80 km between the towns of Nazca
and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana which lies about 400km south of the
capital Lima. The geoglyphs is known as the "NAZCA LINES" Scholars
believe the Nazca lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400BC
and 500BC. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from
simple lines to stylized hummingbirds. spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks,
orcas, and lizards.

The designs are shallow lines made in the
ground by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the
whitish/grayish ground beneath. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric
shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals such as birds,
fish, llamas, jaguars, monkeys, or human figures. Other designs include
phytomorphic shapes such as trees and flowers. The largest figures are
over 200 m (660 ft) across. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose
of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to
them.

Due
to its isolation and to the dry, windless, and stable climate of the
plateau, the lines have mostly been naturally preserved. Extremely rare
changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. As of
recent years, the lines are said to have been deteriorating due to an
influx of squatters inhabiting the lands.

History and Theories

The
first mention of the Nazca Lines in print was by Pedro Cieza de León in
his book of 1553, where he mistook them for trail markers. Interest in
them lapsed until the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe
spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills in 1927. He
discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.

The site was
designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, Though
Archeologist, Ethnologists, and Anthropologists have studied the ancient
Nazca culture to try to determine the purpose of the lines and figures
but nothing concrete had come out of the many theories brought
forth...With many saying it serve as an observatory in the study of
astronomy and cosmology, others said its a site of religious purpose.

Other theories have been summarized as:

"The geometric ones could indicate the flow of water or be connected to
rituals to summon water. The spiders, birds, and plants could be
fertility symbols. Other possible explanations include irrigation
schemes or giant astronomical calendars."

Gerald
Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, experts in archaeoastronomy, concluded in
1990, the evidence was insufficient to support such an astronomical
explanation.